The three required topics for cluster activities are Diversity/Native Peoples, Community Service/Volunteerism, and Government. Here are some ideas for activities for each required topic.
Cultural Diversity/Native Peoples
For centuries, diverse populations have been interweaving to create the rich cultural fabric of the United States. European settlements, the African slave trade and continuing immigration have contributed in part to our diverse population. While the American people have not always enjoyed equal rights and liberties, we have come a long way from the days of slavery and racial segregation. This is due in no small part to the work of leaders who united people across cultures to work towards tolerance and respect for our diverse cultures, ethnicities, and religions.
Here are some organizations that might lead to good ideas on this topic as well as community service/volunteerism:
Special Olympics: An international organization dedicated to empowering individuals with mental retardation to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition. Contact your local program office to find out about opportunities to volunteer.
https://www.specialolympics.org/
NAACP: For almost a century, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has played a vital role in America’s struggle for racial equality. Contact your local NAACP branch to find out more about volunteer and learning opportunities programs in your area.
Urban League: The nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. Contact Affiliate Offices at
https://nul.org/ or call (212) 558-5300
Boys and Girls Clubs of America: Its mission is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. To find a club near you, please call 1-800-854-CLUB or visit
http://www.bgca.org/whoweare/Pages/FindaClub.aspx
National Association for the Deaf: The mission of the National Association of the Deaf is to promote, protect, and preserve the rights and quality of life of deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America.
Other ideas for exploring cultural diversity in your community may include:
- Historically Black colleges and universities
- College diversity student associations and clubs
- Mosques, churches and synagogues
- Native American reservations, gatherings, or festivals
- Cultural festivals celebrating a particular group’s cultural heritage
- Visit to the office of a civil rights attorney
- Representatives of various cultural organizations
Community Service/ Volunteerism
Civil society is a valuable concept in any society. It refers to the set of institutions, organizations and behavior situated between the state, the business world, and the family. Specifically, this includes voluntary and non-profit organizations of many different kinds, philanthropic institutions, social and political movements, other forms of social participation and engagement and the values and cultural patterns associated with them. Community service begins at the local level with individuals who work (often volunteering) to make positive contributions to their communities and/or contribute to wider causes or movements that are important to them. Their efforts can gain popularity and spread to other communities, their positive effects reaching far and wide, sometimes even affecting legislation – like promoting peace through citizen exchange.
What better way to learn about volunteer community service than by doing it? All Sponsored Programs participants currently hosted in the United States are required to participate in community service activities. There are opportunities to volunteer in all sorts of communities across the country.
Organizing a modest volunteer or community-service project is one of the culminating activities we hope each cluster will bring to fruition by the end of the academic year. Global Youth Service Day is a global event organized by Youth Service America (YSA). YSA has many useful community service tools available on their website, http://ysa.org/act/programs/gysd/ Here are a few ideas:
- Tutoring and mentoring children
- Reading to the elderly
- Environmental protection and preservation
- Organizing a fundraiser for a particular cause
- Community renewal projects, such as clean-up, or painting a school
- Serving meals for the homeless
- Building low-cost housing (check to see if an activity waiver is needed for this)
- Teaching English to immigrants
There are other ways that students can learn about the work that volunteers do. These might include:
- Visiting a volunteer fire department
- Contacting your local Returned Peace Corps Association
- Learning about organizations such as:
- The Red Cross
- Americorps
- Doctors Without Borders
- Professionals such as lawyers, doctors and business people who donate their services
- Working with animal shelters
- VolunteerMatch (https://www.volunteermatch.org/) to locate volunteer opportunities in your community
Students can also learn about social services instituted by the local government. Many services such as these began with work and advocacy done by volunteers. A quick google search is a good place to start to resources on:
- Child welfare
- Women’s shelters
- Homeless shelters
- Welfare
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Government
One of the distinctive and fundamental characteristics of U.S. society is the structure and organization of our government. Think about including activities that could reinforce and expand an understanding of how people in the U.S. govern themselves. Here are some suggestions:
- Visit state capitol and legislative sessions
- Participate in a school board or city council meeting with a discussion of educational systems, local vs. national control of education, comparison with home countries’ systems
- Visit the local office of your federal U.S. Congressional Representative or U.S. Senator
- Lobbying groups: set up visits to offices of lobbyists. Discuss the role of lobbyists in government/elections, discuss issues concerning campaign financing
- Have the students set up a lobbying or advocacy group
- Visit with League of Women Voters
- Participate in a local election: visit a local campaign headquarters, meet with a candidate's PR or campaign director, role of volunteers in election/campaign process, role of media in election campaigns by meeting with reporters covering the elections
- Courts and legal system: sit in on a trial, visit a jail, talk with lawyers, judges, probation officers or social workers; participate in a mock trial
- Visit with local police; perhaps spend the day with police “on the job”
To help facilitate meetings with local government officials, please feel free to contact IGA (Intergovernmental Affairs) to discuss meetings with officials:
United States Department of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone (with employee directory): (202) 208-3100
https://www.doi.gov/contact-us/
Ideas for Other Themes
- Visits to newspapers that incorporate a discussion on first amendment rights
- Job shadowing days that give students an insight into small businesses
- Visit to public TV and/or radio stations--discussion of funding and role of public television and radio
- Visits to museums, art galleries, theater, and orchestra--discussion of how arts are funded in the U.S. and why it has at times been a controversial subject (National Endowment for the Arts), speak with museum curators, community theater groups or art associations
- Participation in region-specific historical days
- Visits to a military base or speak with military personnel, discuss how the military is organized in the U.S., its roles in a democracy
- Fund-raisers to raise money to include all area AFSers in enrichment cluster activities, holding a discussion of the local fund-raising tradition in the U.S
- Architecture in the U.S. and American contributions to art